Thursday evening, Chad Ford and Marc Stein discussed the trade deadline in-depth on Chad's podcast, the Daily Dish.
The following are excerpts from the podcast.

To listen to the full podcast, click here.

Was this a disappointing trade season?

Stein: I think we did have some pretty substantive conversation, and obviously we did have Iverson moving in December, we had an [eight-player] trade in January.

We've had some pretty big names show up on the free-agent market in season, which you weren't expecting, with Webber and Jalen Rose and Eddie Jones getting waived and now Pippen is trying to come back.

And also, as you well know, I mean, Kidd to the Lakers was seriously discussed, Bibby to Cleveland was seriously discussed. ...

It's not as bad as it looks on paper.

Ford: But "serious discussions"? I mean, don't GMs get paid to do more than have serious discussions?

As fans of teams that are disappointed right now that they didn't get any significant improvement ... don't you have to come back to these GMs and say there's 30 GMs in the league and these are the only two trades they could make before the trade deadline?

It seems a little bit like maybe there's this reluctance on GMs to move away from the status quo. The fear of getting something wrong prohibits them from doing significant trades.

Stein: I think part of the reason we didn't see that trade happen is because they're so happy with the gamble on Bynum and how it's worked out so far. You know, they were hit pretty hard when they drafted Andrew Bynum. They took a lot of criticism for it.

They've now got a young guy, we haven't seen any consistency from him, but we have seen a lot of potential, a lot of agility for a guy that size. ...

On top of the fact that, you know, trading big for small is always frowned upon, I think that's one reason why the Lakers weren't interested in doing that. ...

I think Bynum has shown enough progress, he's whet the appetite just enough that I don't know where he's going to be in a year. He might be further along than we anticipate. Sometimes you see flashes from this guy that are unreal.

Ford: The Lakers, I'm not so sure, because I look at this team, they've lost 12 out of the last 16. ...

I mean, what do you say to Kobe and Lamar Odom? In three or four years when Bynum is ready to compete at a championship level, we'll be really glad we didn't trade for Jason Kidd? ...

It seems that while Kidd couldn't give them a guarantee of a championship, he at least put them in the mix with the Spurs and the Mavs and the Phoenix Suns. And that's all fans ask for.

Should the Celtics be more proactive?

Ford: When I talked to Jeff Schwartz today, Pierce's agent, I got the impression that, Hey, Pierce is hanging in, he's being the good soldier, he loves Boston, he'd love to be there, but he's not going to wait around forever. It seems like this rebuilding process in Boston is taking forever.

Stein: I would say those changes have to happen before next season. ...

They're hoping that lottery luck shines on them this time because it didn't last time. Maybe they get one of the top two picks. ...

I think by May and June we will see what you would term Danny Ainge's last hurrah. He certainly has got to come up with something before next season. There's no way the Celtics can go into next season with Pierce and a bunch of kids, Hey, we're going to give it the old college try. They've got to make a monumental move by then.

But not doing it by this deadline, I personally don't have a huge problem with it.

Should Chicago have tried harder to get Pau Gasol?

Stein: You know, I don't think they're sure that Pau Gasol is the over-the-top piece. And I really think that in May and June that same deal is potentially there for them to go out and make.

Ford: I have to disagree with you a little bit because they have P.J. Brown's expiring contract now. They're not going to be able to trade that over the summer.

And now you've got to piece together quite a few players because most of these other players that they're interested in -- Tyrus Thomas, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng -- are low-money guys because they're in their rookie contracts.

They're going to have a hard time piecing together enough contracts to get a Kevin Garnett or Pau Gasol. I think that can come back to bite them a little bit.

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"We would have two less championships here if it wasn't for Manu Ginobili," Popovich said. "In my book, Manu Ginobili is the stud of the world.

I mean, what do you say to Kobe and Lamar Odom? In three or four years when Bynum is ready to compete at a championship level, we'll be really glad we didn't trade for Jason Kidd? ...

"What do you say to Kobe and Lamar?"

How about "look how well it worked out for San Antonio"?

I remember the talk on this forum about some wanting Jason Kidd to sign, but others not wanting him here because of what it might do to Tony Parker (i.e. force him to 2-guard or send him packing, in a few years). Well, Kidd passed on the Spurs and their "potential young guard" turned into a championship-winning, two-time All-Star. So, waiting to see what developed kind of worked out for the Spurs, didn't it?

Of course, Bynum could regress to Joe Smith or Kwame Brown levels of inadequacy, next season, so you never know where these things could go.

Singning Kidd as FA would have been a good move, because the Spurs didn't need to give anyone to get one of the best NBA players. The problem with Kidd was perhaps the contract. By then, it was clear by the Lakers example, that two great players no matter how good, can't win it all if there was no many left for the supporting cast.

Since 2003, every NBA champion or serious contender has very balanced roster with above average players at every position. Duncan is great, who can question that, however Horry is not the same player from 2005, Bonner is a 40% 3PT player, but has no interior presence, Elson is a reserve, Oberto is weak and Butler is a project. Ely? Who knows. Because of this, the Spurs get outrebounded and the defense, concedes high porcentage shots, is not what it used to be.

There is still a good chance to win this year, however, the time has shown that it was a mistake to sign completely unproven C's and that situation should have been corrected with a mid-season trade.